by Louisa Lo
Her hand started to slips from Gabriella’s.
With a determined glint in her eyes, Anastasia swung back one last time, then leaned into the forward motion with everything she had.
Her movement started to slow right before her left foot reached the edge of the landing. She wasn’t going to make it.
Then to my horror, she yanked on Gabriella’s hand, using that extra bit of traction and opposite force to flip herself onto the landing even as Gabriella went over it.
Anastasia touched the ground with both of her feet like a cat, and then there was an awful silence before Gabriella hit the bottom of the cliff with a thump.
What was more chilling was the torrent of Anastasia’s thoughts that assaulted me, all of them self-justifying.
It was her or me.
She found out I took the dagger.
It was only a matter of time before she figured out I was scared of iron.
It’s her own fault for not thinking to use her magic to save me. I had to do whatever it took to save myself.
Blame evolution for her wings being vestigial. Great as a power indicator but totally useless for actual flying.
My pendent started shaking, almost as if it was overloaded by either Anastasia’s cold-bloodedness or my terror, or a combination of both.
Anastasia looked up, seemingly drawn by the vibration of the pendent—or maybe it was that whatever connection was between us, she was now able to sense it again.
When she locked eyes with me for the second time tonight, I was convinced that my earlier theory was right, and that my invisibility would only be maintained if she was unaware of me. That was because the longer she glared at me, the more substantial I felt.
Her lips formed a cruel line as I came crashing down onto the landing.
Kill the witness, whoever the hell she is. She’s most likely responsible for this blasted reality I’m in anyway.
Anastasia advanced toward me, pulling out the wooden knife. It might not be sharp, but in the hand of someone intending to do harm, it could still be lethal.
Then I saw it.
The iron dagger, left abandoned on the ground.
I was mesmerized by the gleaming metal I’d been taught all my life to fear. But there was no fear now.
I picked up the dagger and faced Anastasia. There was no pain at the touch of the metal. No instant death as common sense dictated.
Who’s Anastasia, a vengeance demon who’s afraid of iron? Who am I, a fae who’s not?
Chapter Seven
Eldon
“THEY TOOK HER.”
I barged into the observatory with Trust by my side and found it empty except for a young pixie. She sat atop a large book, looking dejected.
“It’s Alina, right?” I tried to keep the impatience out of my voice. One would always get more information out of others when a proper name was used, and I needed that because while Trust could sense it when Finny was in trouble, he wasn’t entirely strong on the specifics. “Finny’s told me so much about you.”
The pixie bowed. “Your Royal Highness.”
“What happened?”
Alina looked like she was ready to burst into tears. “We were working when she fainted. I found Mr. Lichen. He called the Centaur Guard and they took her away.”
The Centaur Guard, the queen’s private bodyguards. Now I knew Finny was really in trouble. The guards would be able to sense the residual signature of vengeance power in the air. Every type of magic left behind a distinct flavor, and vengeance magic was unmistakably bitter on the taste buds, like strong black tea.
“And oh, one more thing,” Alina stopped me as I started to leave. “Her pendant got really hot.”
I spun around. “She was wearing that blasted pendant?”
“Yes. And it got hot.”
Damn.
***
It had taken me years of patience and planning to get to this point, but all the preparation in the world could not have allowed me to anticipate this development.
The Eye of Sebille served as an indicator and enforcer of the Crossover. On Finny’s birthday, it would transport her home, while returning the fae who took her place on the Vengeance plane back to Dualsing.
The Eye wasn’t supposed to grow hot until a day or so before Finny’s birthday, but it was standard procedure to place the pendant on someone like her early, just in case.
And now its premature activation was going to derail everything. I had to act quickly.
And that meant seeing my parents.
The south wing housed the royal residence of the king and queen. It had been a long time since I had been in their chambers. Seeing and interacting with them at official palace functions? Yes. Attending meetings and making decisions together with the rest of the ruling class? Yes. Having direct, private conversations? No.
Not since the day I’d turned sixteen and had that conversation with them.
Sometimes I wondered if it would’ve been kinder if the Age of Insight had been eighteen instead, and I found out the truth about Finny at the same time I had to say goodbye to her.
Instead, every Dualsingian teenager went through the uncomfortable years between sixteen and eighteen, when they knew who amongst them was not really a fae, yet they weren’t allowed to reveal it to the victims in question.
They called it character building.
I called it the systematic nurturing of life-long apathy.
On the way to the south wing, I found a secluded corner and gestured for Trust to join me there. After placing an anti-eavesdropping spell over us to ensure privacy, I got right to the point. “You know what I must ask of you.”
Trust nodded with solemn eyes.
“The wall of the royal chamber is embedded with blood-rubies, not Molten Amber. We won’t have access to our scouts to know what to expect.”
Trust nodded again, the determination in his eyes unwavering.
We continued our journey to the south wing. The dragon, long past his flame-breathing days, swaggered rather than flew toward our destination. His untrimmed claws made click-click sounds on the marble floor as we passed through the crowd at central square, went through a series of interconnecting hallways, and came to a stop in front of a heavy double door carved straight from a pair of thousand-year-old oak trees. Two centaurs with shiny manes and well-groomed tails stood guard.
Trust went on ahead, advancing on the guards and letting out a huff of air that would typically have been intimidating. In keeping with his ruse, however, not even a tiny cloud of white smoke came from his flaring nostrils. The guards ran their appraising eyes over the dragon’s small body, noted with raised eyebrows the state of his scales, discolored from age and dull from a lack of regular polishing.
They ignored Trust, just as I had hoped. There was a great power in being underestimated. It would allow Trust to accompany me inside to visit the queen as a harmless pet rather than a cunning intellect, despite the fact that they should’ve known better. Trust was the longest-serving royal advisor in Dualsingian history before his forced retirement.
I coughed and stepped forward, noting that the guards seemed only slightly more impressed at the sight of me.
Good.
“I would like to request an audience with the king and queen.” I used the sternest tone I could manage, one I practiced daily with a voice recorder, a human gadget I had smuggled into Dualsing through a planeswalker demon always ready for a quick profit.
The guards remained silent. From the vacant look taking over their eyes, I could tell that they were telepathically checking with the queen. After a moment they bowed, touched the doorknobs, and stood aside as the double doors swung open a lot faster than their weight should’ve allowed.
I crossed the threshold with Trust, noting how shallow the guards’ bows were. Nothing new there.
What was new was the receiving area of the royal chamber. The room had always been elegantly decorated, but now beside priceless paintings and antique furniture, t
here was a brick fireplace in the corner that radiated flames but not heat, and a cream colored fur rug draped tastefully over a plush stool. A trio of pixies hovered by the crown molding, sprinkling the air with miniature snowflakes that disappeared as soon as they touched the ground without leaving a trace of watermark.
“Do you find it to your liking?” Queen Dulcina asked as she entered, though it was clear she wasn’t really asking for approval. She wore a gown of vibrant green silk, her blond hair pinned in an elaborate bun heavy with pearls and eternal flowers. Her blue eyes were devoid of warmth, but as she glanced up at the falling snowflakes, there was a flicker of tenderness there.
Tenderness, but not for me.
I bowed. “Your Majesty.” She let me kiss her hand.
“Your Highness,” she replied.
I looked around, taking in the winter theme of the room. “You’re getting ready.”
“Yes, I am,” she murmured as she dismissed the pixies with a wave of her hand. They were gone in a flash, taking their baskets of snowflakes with them. “I heard winters on the vengeance plane are a lot colder than here. I want Deirdre to have a good transition.”
Deirdre, my twin sister, intended heir to the throne and apple of my mother’s eye. I didn’t want to talk about her, but the queen had Finny, and I couldn’t afford to not play along.
“At least she didn’t get assigned to the dimension that’s parallel to the vengeance plane. Can you imagine her amongst humans?” I said. “Speaking of transition—”
“You’re here for Lady Serafina, aren’t you? You heard, I assume.”
My surprise at her cutting to the chase must’ve shown on my face, for she laughed softly and gestured to the plush stool. “I’m keeping her under observation. It’s for her own good. Sit down, my son. Your father and I have much to discuss with you.”
And by that, she meant she had something to discuss with me. When Dualsingians spoke of the king and queen, they really meant just the queen. The real ruler of Dualsing was Queen Dulcina. The king had so little power, even his name was forgotten from disuse. There was true power in a name, and without one, a fae, no matter who he or she was, would eventually fade from existence, like my father.
That was what was expected of me, in time.
Over my dead still-got-a-name body.
I sat, careful to follow the queen’s command right away. My best weapon right now was to be underestimated, and in a perverse way, obedience held great power. My limp leg protested the sudden change of position, but I ignored it. “What would you like to discuss, Mother?”
Queen Dulcina walked to me, giving me no choice but to look up at her. “You have feelings for Lady Serafina. Not that it matters.”
Of course not. My feelings for Finny were of no importance to the queen. Feelings only mattered if those they belonged to mattered.
I waited, not giving in to the temptation to say something to break the silence. Years of palace politics and well-practiced self-control had taught me when to use silence as a weapon.
“What does matter,” the queen continued after a time. “Is the Trip. People are starting to talk.”
The Trip, an adventure that awaited every fae in our world at the entrance to adulthood. Traveling to other planes after that point in our lives was strictly prohibited, as our bodies just weren’t meant for multiple cross-dimensional travels. People always came to us, willingly or otherwise, not the other way around.
“I plan to go in a few months, I just got too busy with—” I began giving the same old excuse.
“Your eighteenth birthday was almost a year ago. This delay is unprecedented.”
I remained silent.
“There are nasty rumors abounding that say you’re too weak to take on the Trip.” Queen Dulcina glanced pointedly at my leg. “Do you understand how…unseemly this all looks?”
The queen wasn’t concerned about her son’s actual capability to complete the Trip, but only the undermining of the royal family’s image if he didn’t go.
“I am going,” I insisted.
“Yes, you are. At first light tomorrow. I already commissioned the planeswalker demon to take you.”
“And if I refuse?” I already knew the answer.
“On top of moving her schedule up, I’ll see to it that we drain every bit of vengeance magic out of that girl before we dump her back on her real family’s doorstep. The process will drive her insane, but that’s not my concern,” the queen said without batting an eye.
She planned to do that anyway, if it wasn’t done already. The parasitic nature of a Dualsingian demanded that she not pass up such a delicious energy meal. It was one thing when Finny’s power was untapped and hard to harvest, it was another when it was awakened and ripe for the picking.
“Have a good Trip. The Crossover will be over when you come back,” Queen Dulcina said almost gently as she turned to leave the room. “And tell the pixies to make the snowflakes bigger.”
“Mother.” I hadn’t called her that for a long time. “Can I ask you for one favor?”
“What is it?”
“Can I see her? One last time? Please?” I pleaded.
The queen hesitated, then seemed to make up her mind, “Come with me.”
She took me and Trust to a small study off the main receiving area. In the middle of it was a small bed. She pulled back the drapes and there was Finny, in an unnatural state that was neither sleep nor unconsciousness. She looked like she was in stasis, yet vengeance magic radiated from her as strongly as when she had yelled at me on the battlement.
I looked at the queen and she shrugged. “She’s been like this since my guards found her at the observatory.”
The Eye of Sebille vibrated, and together with Finny, started to fade. The embroidery adorning her lace pillow, mostly blocked by her head just moments ago, became visible.
“What is happening?” The queen pulled on my arm. “Why is Serafina disappearing? We have to get her back or Deirdre will be lost too!”
Of course. Everything was always about her precious Deirdre. The Eye of Sebille was as responsible for sending Finny packing as it was for bringing my sister home.
All right, Finny fading wasn’t part of the plan, but it was time to improvise.
I turned to Trust. “Please reveal yourself.”
Chapter Eight
Serafina
ANASTASIA NARROWED HER EYES on the iron dagger in my hand. “Don’t be stupid. I can take that from you in half a second.”
I looked down at the valley where Gabriella had fallen to her death and swallowed. I was painfully aware that the landing was too slippery and small for a lot of maneuvering, and my potential killer outmatched me in both combat skills and ruthlessness, not to mention having the help of a wooden knife. And yet…
“Then why don’t you?” I had no idea what gave me the courage to dare her. Maybe it was a matter of having nothing to lose.
“You don’t think I can?” Anastasia’s voice was full of arrogance and contempt, but inside her head, an entirely different conversation was taking place.
Don’t touch the dagger! My gloves are torn.
Her scent. There’s something there. She has power.
Vengeance power.
But how? She looks about my age but her power is totally raw and untrained.
Don’t make a move until there’s more information.
Rather than looking at Anastasia’s cold and calculating face, I focused on her pearl-studded earrings. They looked like any ordinary, non-magical trinkets. Non-glowing. I remembered how Gabriella seemed to be able to draw power from hers by energizing them, and how she’d called Anastasia a Powerless.
Anastasia’s earrings must have been dormant because she wasn’t able to activate them.
If they wouldn’t glow bright for Anastasia, would they do so for me? The pearls pulled at me, making me believe that I could, even though I wasn’t wearing them and I wasn’t their owner.
How did Gabriella do it? S
he’d concentrated her thoughts on something and it had just happened.
What did I usually think about before my power manifested itself?
Justice.
Could justice also be the source of Gabriella’s power, and thus the key to command the pearls? I’d never even heard of vengeance demons before this day, but it made sense given their name. Vengeance. Right and Wrong. Justice.
“What are you staring at?” Anastasia snapped. “Look me in the eye, dammit!”
Feeling silly, especially in light of Anastasia’s hostility, I started counting out her sins in my head.
The wrongness of stealing another’s dagger.
The wrongness of pushing someone to their death.
The wrongness of doing so when they were trying to help you.
Anastasia‘s earrings lit up our dark surrounding.
“What did you do?” She demanded sharply, turning her head left and right to confirm that it was indeed her earrings that were illuminating the area.
“And what is that?” She pointed at something behind me.
I twisted my body around, catching the edge of a wing. I twisted the other way and saw another. In awe, I realized that there was a pair of half transparent wings attached to my back.
They were a part of me.
As I was a part of the vengeance demon race.
That was my last thought before Anastasia lunged toward me.
Chapter Nine
Eldon
THE DRAGON WALKED A few steps away from me and started shaking his body like a wet puppy. With each shake, the surface of his scales looked more polished, frayed edges became smooth, and small bald patches on his body disappeared. His eyes, crowded with cataracts just moments before, became clear and shrewd.
With a roar, the miniature dragon shed the last of his glamour, letting go of his age-beaten illusion. He revealed himself as a vivacious beast in all his magnificent glory, a shimmer of gold surrounded his full wings, reflective of his deep reservoir of ancient magic.
“What manner of trickery is this?” the queen demanded. She tried to call her fae magic to contain Trust, but he blew a huff of white smoke on her and rendered her frozen to her spot.